They're playing at 10,000 an hour," Noah stunned by the extraordinary intensity of Sinner and Alcaraz

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Jules Hypolite

le 11/09/2025 à 18h23

2 min to read

Alcaraz Sinner

Between winning shots and physical intensity, Sinner and Alcaraz are pushing the limits of tennis. Yannick Noah, speaking on RMC Sport, expressed his admiration for the two young players.

For the second season in a row, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have split the Grand Slams, with the former winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and the latter triumphing at Roland-Garros and the US Open. This has established a true Big 2 that, for now, seems well above the rest of the competition and has impressed many former players, like Yannick Noah.

The last French winner at Roland-Garros in 1983, who will serve as captain of Team Europe at the next Laver Cup, shared his admiration for the two young champions:

"For a bit of context, I was sitting in the second row (for the Roland-Garros final). I settle in, and from the very first point of the match, I don’t know if it was PlayStation, but they were playing at 10,000 an hour. Technically and physically, it was extraordinary.

They were hitting from every angle. There was a dramatic side with the match point. And on top of that, I found Sinner very classy in defeat. It was so beautiful. It was a very fine final on every level; it had everything."

The former French No. 1 then continued on the post-Big 3 era:

"A year and a half ago, we were saying: 'After them, there will be nothing for ten years.' Three days later, you have Sinner and Alcaraz arriving and playing at a level... I’m blown away by the level.

It’s at least equal, if not superior, and these guys are 22 years old. When you consider that Nadal reached his best level at 28-29, you realize these guys have great days ahead of them. It’s promising.